The Music Sustainability Initiative of Georgetown University, in partnership with the College of Arts & Sciences and the Law Center, invites proposals for the Music Sustainability Conference 2026, to be held April 10–11, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
This year’s theme, “Music and AI: Creativity, Labor, and Power,” explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping the conditions of musical work, authorship, and creativity. The conference convenes musicians, scholars, policymakers, lawyers, and industry and cultural institution leaders to ask: how has, is, and might AI transform how music is made, circulates, sustains livelihoods, and expresses human (or posthuman) experience?
Unlike a traditional academic conference, the Music Sustainability Conference combines read papers with panel discussions, artist presentations, demonstrations, and interactive performances. Presentations will intersect critical scholarship with lived practice, creative experimentation, and public policy.
We invite proposals that address, but are not limited to, the following areas:
Artistic and experimental uses of AI in composition, performance, and production
Authorship, ownership, and labor in AI-generated or AI-assisted music
Algorithmic bias, transparency, and the law or politics of training data
Creative resistance, hacking, and cultural red-teaming
Historical, philosophical, or legal perspectives on music, automation, and technological imagination
Policy and legal frameworks for sustaining equitable musical ecosystems
The economics of streaming, platformization, and new forms of creative work
AI and the redefinition of musical purpose, meaning, and value
We especially welcome proposals from artists, independent scholars, technologists, and advocates working outside traditional academic institutions.
Submit Proposal Here
Questions and information: musicsustainability@georgetown.edu
Website: https://musicsustainability.georgetown.edu